Island history offers avenue for art

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Susan Ericksen looks to her family home for inspiration in her first watercolor exhibit.

Some kids read under covers with a flashlight. Susan Ericksen drew with her crayons.

Now Ericksen is drawing on her rich family life and history – three island generations – for inspiration in her paintings.

The result is an exhibit of watercolors by Ericksen and friends Jeannie Jones and Mary Lynn Smaaladen, which opened at the Treehouse Cafe in Lynwood Center last week.

A colorful map of Bainbridge Island figures in the center of Ericksen’s “Island Home,” which incorporates different elements of the island’s history in its borders and boxes along the map: farming, fishing, island scenery and local legends.

It’s a history well known to the artist, whose grandfather, Christian Ericksen, a Norwegian immigrant, built the family’s island home in 1903, on what is now called Ericksen Avenue.

Christian was a ship’s carpenter originally delivering wood for Port Blakely Mills to Sydney, Australia; the border of evergreens framing Susan’s “Island Home” alludes to the mill’s influence on the island.

Christian Ericksen went on to work for the Hall Brothers Shipyard for over 50 years. His son, Susan Ericksen’s father, was a machinist at the shipyard, married in 1929 and moved into the family house, eventually buying it. Bricks salvaged from the dismantled shipyard make up an outdoor fireplace in the backyard. A large holly tree standing in the yard was planted the year Susan was born, toward the end of World War II.

The residence is now home to Susan herself who, save for a short stint on the East Coast, has stayed close to the island.

Ericksen says she cherishes memories of her childhood on the quiet island. In the 1950s, the year-round population was small; just 85 students were in her high school graduating class.

“Kids could take off in the morning and be gone all day if we were home by the time the lights came on,” she recalls.

“I think now I’m getting to the age where these things are important to me and I want to pass it on to my child. There’s a season for everything and this is my season.”

Ericksen says “Island Home” is the first in a series of watercolors she is planning, also about Bainbridge Island.

“Where I’m going now is more toward Island Home,” Ericksen said. “That just flows out of my paintbrush, that’s really my natural style.”

A paraeducator in special education at Bainbridge High School, Ericksen began teaching art six years ago when her close friend Jeannie Jones asked her for some instruction. A class quickly grew by word of mouth.

Like Jones, Mary Lynn Smaaladen is a student of Ericksen’s; yet all three artists display different styles.

Ericksen’s works show a certain amount of realism, sometimes conveyed impressionistically, such as in “Head of the Bay” on Bainbridge or the mingling of water and sand flats in “Pacific Estuary.”

With near photorealism, Smaaladen – a trained calligrapher – paints a flower in a glass so real you could touch it.

By contrast, “Bill the Jam Man” and other works by Jones evoke storybook illustrations with their flat, simple, colorful scenes in which individual leaves and shingles are carefully drawn in. From Jones’ imagination comes “Gramma’s Enchanted Cottage,” which has golden coins strewn before the path to a cottage in a forest; a flight of bees exits a nearby hive.

“I love different places and scenes,” Jones said. “I’m attracted to doors and windows. I always wonder what’s on the other side.

“(Watercolor) is something I really enjoy. I get started and can’t wait to see the finished product.”

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“Three Part Harmony,” an exhibit of watercolor works by Susan Ericksen, Jeannie Jones and Mary Lynn Smaaladen, is on view at the Treehouse Cafe in Lynwood Center through Aug. 8. Prints of selected works are available; call 842-3316 or email partiomom@earthlink.net.